Penn State Women’s Soccer vs. Michigan Preview
Two might be a crowd, but three is a party and when No. 25 Penn State welcomes Michigan into Jeffrey Field it will be looking to celebrate its third straight victory.
The Nittany Lions have won two consecutive games defeating Maryland and Wisconsin by way of shutout, improving their overall record to 9-3-2 and conference record to 4-2-1.
Those two contests continued a trend for the blue and white who has won eight of its nine games by way of shutouts, including its last four victories.
When talking about shutouts, while they are a testament to total team efforts, the last line of defense, the goalkeeper, is the one who gets credited with it.
For Penn State, the one who has been credited, at least to some degree, with all the shutouts is Katherine Asman.
Head coach Erica Dambach has elected the redshirt senior keeper from Georgia as the starter for all 14 games. Asman has answered the call in those starts posting a .82 goals against average and .810 save percentage on 47 saves.
Six of those 14 starts have ended in sole shutouts for Asman, who also combined for two more with fifth-year senior Morgan Messner.
The task for Asman will be an inconsistent Wolverine offense that might have Asman finding her seventh shutout after 90 minutes. The maize and blue has been blanketed six times, including in its last last two contests against Michigan State and #5 Northwestern.
If the Wolverines do score, they score in bunches as 20 of their 28 goals in three games versus Boston University, Central Michigan and Toledo. It’ll be difficult to score in bunches against Penn State, which has yet to allow more than three goals in a game this season, and have not allowed five goals in a game since 2013 against No. 6 Virginia.
Not scoring makes it hard to win games which can be seen in the Wolverines 6-6-3 record and 1-4-2 conference record, where the offense has escaped them even more so than previously.
The Wolverines 1.87 goals per game average has disappeared in conference play as just two shots have found the back of the net, both off the leg of Meredith Haakenson.
Haakenson is tied for second on the team with Kacey Lawrence as both have scored five goals, trailing Sammi Woods who leads the way with seven tallies.
On the other end for the Wolverines is Izzy Nino, who has kept games close with a lack of offensive support. Nino has posted a 1.17 goals against average with 41 saves on a .745 save percentage over her 13 games started.
Nino made five saves, but allowed three goals in their aforementioned previous contest against the Wildcats. Over the last two contests, Nino has allowed five goals while making 10 saves.
While the graduate student has been one of the few bright spots on the Wolverine roster, the Nittany Lions’ offense have been roaring.
Led by Ally Shlegal and Penelope Hocking, who each have five goals, Penn State has scored five goals over its last two contests and 12 over the course of their past four victories.
It has not been a two woman show for the Nittany Lions, as 12 different members of the blue and white have found the back of the net. Hocking, Peyton Linnehan and Elle Kershner were the three goal scorers against Wisconsin.
For Linnehan and Kershner, it was the second time that each of them have found their way past the goalkeeper this season.
Those two programs faced off twice last season including during the Big Ten Tournament. The Wolverines won both games by a combined score of 5-1 including a 2-1 effort during the Big Ten Tournament.
The game will kick-off at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Jeffrey Field.
Justin Ciavolella is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu.
